Lucknow Super Giants pacer Mayank Yadav stormed into the limelight while making his debut in the Indian Premier League. The LSG pacer rocketed a ball at 156 Kmph during the second innings of LSG's clash against Punjab Kings at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.
Mayank's 156 Kmph delivery is the fastest ball of IPL 2024 as he broke the record held by Nandre Burger. The youngster claimed his maiden wicket in the form of Jonny Bairstow and ended the massive 102-run stand for the opening wicket. He went on to claim two more wickets and was a vital cog in his team's comeback into the match. He removed Prabhsimran Singh and Jitesh Sharma to push PBKS on the back foot. His 156 Kmph ball was the first ball of the 12th over to Shikhar Dhawan.
Who is Mayank Yadav?
Mayank Yadav is a 21-year-old Delhi pacer. He was picked by LSG for his base price of Rs 20 lakh in the 2022 mega auction. He did not play in the previous two seasons. Mayank was ruled out in the middle of IPL 2023 after he picked up an injury and Arpit Guleria replaced him.
Mayank has played one first-class game, 17 List-A matches and 10 T20 games so far in his short career. He has been impressive in his early career. Mayank was the joint second-highest wicket-taker in the Deodhar Trophy for North Zone.
In List A cricket, he has picked 34 wickets, 12 in T20s and 2 in first-class cricket ahead of his IPL debut.
Notably, the LSG head coach Justin Langer also said that they are backing Mayank and Shamar Joseph's pace in the absence of Mark Wood. "We also have Shamar Joseph, we have Mayank who bowls with very good pace. Hopefully we can replace, not [Wood's] experience, but his pace with Shamar Joseph and Mayank. He'll be missed - of course he'll be missed, he's a world-class bowler - but this is the world we live in and we will adapt and we will be OK," Langer said during the build up to the season," Langer had said ahead of IPL 2024.
